COPYRIGHT  1913,  BY 
HANFORD  CRAWFORD 


To  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


Brethren : 

In  making  this  report  on  my  recent  trip  to  the  mission 
fields  in  response  to  your  very  kind  request  by  resolu¬ 
tion,  in  September,  1912,  I  feel  impelled  to  call  attention 
to  what  might  otherwise  be  considered  important  omis¬ 
sions. 

First,  there  will  be  no  attempt  at  chronological  order; 
to  do  this  would  necessitate  much  repetition  of  things 
perfectly  familiar ;  second,  my  desire  will  be  to  discuss 
only  questions  which  are  as  yet  unsettled  or  to  express 
opinions  which  perhaps  have  hardly  as  yet  come  to  free 
discussion. 

In  prosecuting  my  inquiries,  as  we  traveled  from  place 
to  place,  it  was  an  embarrassment  not  to  have  a  more  per¬ 
fect  catalogue,  calendar  or  list,  of  the  names  of  mission¬ 
aries  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  representing  the 
Board  of  Foreign  Missions  and  the  Woman’s  Foreign 
Missionary  Society.  Some  of  the  other  Boards  issue 
pamphlets  in  which  the  names  of  all  missionaries  are 
classified,  both  alphabetically  and  according  to  their  sta¬ 
tions.  In  this  way,  it  is  easy  to  find  the  location  of  a  mis¬ 
sionary  for  whom  one  may  be  looking.  On  the  other 
hand,  when  looking  for  the  name  of  a  city  or  station,  it 
is  a  great  help  to  see  the  complete  list  of  missionaries. 

Concert  of  action  between  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions  and  the  Executive  of  the  Woman’s  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sionary  Society  surely  could  produce  lists  of  this  kind, 
which  would  be  as  helpful  as  are  the  Calendars  of  the 
Presbyterian  and  of  the  American  Boards. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  every  step  of  the  way  brought 
me  face  to  face  with  things  that  were  new  to  me,  but 
which,  on  reflection  and  enquiry,  I  find  are  by  no  means 
new  either  to  the  Secretaries  or  to  the  transactions  of 
your  Board.  It  is,  however,  only  right  for  me  to  con¬ 
firm  and  emphasize  what,  doubtless,  other  independent 
observers  have  said ;  that  the  position  of  the  Christian 

—  3-— 


/BMsstonatE 

Calendar 


Cburcb 

influence 


Church  on  the  foreign  mission  field,  whether  judged  by 
its  relations  to  government  or  to  society,  by  its  actual 
number  of  members  and  adherents,  or  by  its  general  in- 
fluence,  is  very  much  more  important,  more  real,  more 
noticeable,  and  more  permanent  than  is  generally  believed 
in  this  country.  The  numerical  membership  of  the  en¬ 
tire  Christian  Church  in  foreign  countries  represents  only 
a  small  part  of  its  position  and  its  power. 

The  problems  met  on  the  foreign  field  are  not  unlike 
3ficlD6  those  we  know  here  at  home;  in  fact  one  parallels  the 
?Uike  other  more  often  than  we  think. 


Language,  Custom,  Costume  and  Climate  differ  and 
sometimes  confuse ;  but  the  essential  problems  of  preach¬ 
ing,  teaching,  housing  and  shepherding — all  the  work  of 
redemption — -these  have  hardly  an  essential  feature 
abroad  that  can  not  be  paralleled  at  home. 

It  is  this  fact  that  emphasizes  the  importance  of  closest 
co-operation  and  harmony  in  thought  and  action  between 
the  forces  on  the  field  and  the  managing  agencies  at 
home.  Neither  is  infallible. 

Mr.  Fred  B.  Smith,  Mr.  Raymond  Robins,  both  assert 
emphatically,  that,  in  their  recent  world-circling  tour  for 
Men  and  Religion,  they  found  men  everywhere  thinking 
of  the  same  problems  that  engage  us  here ;  so  it  is  after  all 
one  great  uniform  problem  in  applying  the  Gospel  to 
darkened  minds  and  souls  in  every  clime. 

Prof.  A.  C.  Boggess,  of  Lucknow,  in  his  recent  book, 
says  that  Americans  who  have  lived  many  years  in 
India,  affirm  that  “no  one  is  so  well  able  to  appreciate 
the  features  of  Indian  daily  life  that  will  be  of  interest 
to  those  in  other  lands  as  the  new  arrivaL,, 

HpolOQ^  May  this  be  at  least  one  apology  for  my  report.  Its 
observations  may  not  be  profound;  and  may  sometimes 
be  inaccurate ;  but  they  are  recent,  genuine  and  my  own. 

JBaeis  ot  Counting  myself,  by  ancestry  and  personal  history. 

IReport  a  loyal  Methodist,  it  was  of  interest  to  note,  comparative¬ 
ly,  the  missions  of  other  churches,  their  workers  and 


4 


their  results ;  and  this  report,  whatever  its  shortcomings 
or  defects,  or  however  crude  its  expressions  may  be,  is 
the  result  of  actual  conferences  regarding  the  mission¬ 
ary  cause  with  more  than  four  hundred  individual  mis¬ 
sionaries  ;  naturally  these  were  mainly  of  our  own  church, 
but  upon  careful  calculation  I  find  they  represent  the 
missions  of  twenty-seven  different  boards  or  societies. 
These  societies  are: 

United  Presbyterian, 

American  Congregational, 

English  Baptist, 

Reformed, 

Orient, 

Free  Church  of  Scotland, 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Wesleyan  Church, 

British  &  Foreign  Bible  Society, 

Presbyterian  North, 

English  Congregational, 

Church  Missionary  Society, 

Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 

Lutheran, 

German  Pioneer  Mission, 

Woman’s  Union  Mission  of  N.  Y., 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South, 

Y.  M.  C.  A. 

Y.  W.  C.  A. 

American  Bible  Society, 

Presbyterian  South, 

American  Baptist, 

Protestant  Episcopal, 

Basel, 

Friends’  Society, 

Salvation  Army, 

Methodist  Church  of  Canada. 

Out  of  the  comparison  of  these  agencies  at  work 
might  come  many  minor  criticisms  anl  many  sugges¬ 
tions  of  minor  importance.  These  I  shall  not  attempt 
to  enumerate.  It  is,  however,  worth  one’s  while  to  stop 
and  consider  what  is  unquestionably  a  fact  and  ask: 


Gwo 

Queries 


Why  does  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  on 
the  field  have  an  influence  or  reputation  or  predominant 
voice  of  leadership,  entirely  out  of  proportion  to  the 
money  that  is  spent  by  this  Association  ($300,000  per 
year)  or  to  the  numbers  of  its  paid  American  or  English 
representatives?  Their  men  receive  no  larger  salary  and 
allowances  than  do  our  average  married  missionaries. 


Is  it  the  character  of  the  men  it  sends  out  or  the  fact 
that  it  is  the  only  representation  of  thoroughly  federated 
work  among  the  churches ;  or  is  it  because  it  works  to 
redeem  the  whole  man  socially,  physically,  mentally  and 
spiritually? 

It  is  conceded  by  everybody,  and  by  none  more  read¬ 
ily  than  by  themselves,  that  the  work  of  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  is  based  upon  a  half  cen¬ 
tury  of  advance  work  already  done  by  the  Christian 
Church.  But  the  results  of  their  work,  even  granting 
everything  that  is  claimed  against  them,  justify  serious 
attention  to  their  men,  their  methods  and  their  purposes. 


The  Salvation  Army  is  another  branch  of  the  service 
in  regard  to  which  there  is  much  diversity  of  opinion 
here  at  home ;  probably  not  less  than  in  the  foreign  field. 

But  I  have  only  to  mention  Harold  Begbie’s  two  books 
on  the  Salvation  Army  in  England  and  in  India,  to  show 
that  thinking  men  dare  not  disregard  so  tremendous  a 
movement.  An  illustration  from  our  own  field  is  per¬ 
tinent.  While  I  was  in  Java,  endeavoring  to  make  up 
my  mind  how  we  could  hope  to  fulfill  our  duty,  as  the 
only  Protestant  Missionary  Association  at  work  among 
so  many  millions  of  people,  I  noticed  the  activity  of  the 
Salvation  Army  and  heard  many  expressions  of  approval 
from  government  officials  and  Netherlander  engaged  in 
business. 

While  I  was  there  it  happened  that  the  Dutch  Gov¬ 
ernment  appropriated  twenty-four  thousand  guilders 
(about  $10,000  gold)  to  build  and  equip  a  hospital  at 
Samarang;  and  turned  the  money  over  to  the  Salvation 
Army  officers  to  invest  and  manage.  Is  it  possible  that 

—  6  — 


the  great  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  could  not  have 
handled  this  money  quite  as  efficiently?  And,  ought  we 
not  to  have  been  on  such  terms  with  the  government  that 
our  church  would  have  been  considered  the  natural  chan¬ 
nel  through  which  this  philanthropy  could  be  adminis¬ 
tered?  It  is  my  impression  that  there  is  not  much  differ¬ 
ence  in  the  length  of  time  that  the  two  organizations 
have  been  at  work  in  this  field ;  but  our  church  surely 
has  a  century  the  advantage  in  history,  membership, 
stability  and  responsibility. 

From  what  I  have  seen  within  the  last  two  years, 
visiting  Mohammedan  work  in  North  Africa,  Egypt, 
Palestine,  Turkey,  India,  the  Malay  States,  Java  and 
China  I  am  impressed  that  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  has  hardly  made  a  beginning  in  preparation  for 
the  contest  with  Islam.  In  the  Eucknow  Conference,  of 
all  denominations,  on  the  Mohammedan  question,  in  1911, 
our  church  approved  the  union  school  to  be  established 
at  Cairo,  Egypt,  for  the  preparation  of  missionaries  to 
Mohammedan  countries.  If  we  have  taken  any  great 
part  as  a  church  in  helping  to  start  that  school,  I  do 
not  know  of  it.  If  we  have  any  great  Mohammedan 
missionaries,  regarded  by  the  general  church  as  experts 
in  this  line,  their  names  do  not  occur  to  me.  There  are 
indications  in  India  and  China  that  access  may  soon  be 
had  to  Mohammedan  circles;  but  it  is  other  religious 
associations  and  allied  movements  that  have  secured  this, 
fully  as  much  as  our  own  or  any  other  church  mission. 
I  believe  that  our  new  school  at  Jerusalem  should  be  in 
some  way  related  to  the  school  headed  by  the  disting¬ 
uished  Dr.  Zwemer,  at  Cairo;  thus  giving  that  school 
the  support  which  we  owe  it  and  to  which  it  is  entitled, 
and  we  in  turn  receiving  from  it  the  benefit  of  the  experi¬ 
ence  of  its  strong  band  of  teachers.  We  have  in  our 
church  no  men  to  compare  with  them  so  far  as  I  know; 
and  it  will  take  many  years  to  develop  such  a  staff ;  and 
this  staff,  already  provided,  is  adequate  for  our  joint 
needs. 


Ifelam 


—  7  — 


finance 


It  is  said  by  some  of  our  missionaries  on  the  field  that 
they  spend  so  much  time  in  trying  to  supplement  by 
special  gifts  the  amounts  which  they  receive  from  home, 
that  they  frequently  have  not  time  to  properly  attend  to 
their  own  work.  It  is  clearly  proven  that  the  exaggerated 
attention  paid  to  special  gifts  has  resulted  to  the  detri¬ 
ment  of  regular  forms  of  work  and  of  the  sums  received 
in  our  general  collection. 

It  was  brought  to  my  attention  on  the  field  in  more 
than  one  place,  that  the  missionary  who,  while  at  home 
on  furlough  or  in  correspondence  from  the  field,  could 
secure  the  largest  amount  of  money  in  special  donations 
was  most  popular  with  and  likely  to  be  voted  for  by  the 
pastors  or  teachers  whose  salaries  or  other  demands  were 
provided  from  these  privately  collected  funds.  Just  how 
this  is  to  be  corrected  is  difficult  to  say ;  but  it  is  one  of 
the  great  problems  of  the  new  Commission  on  Finance. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  South  does  not  al¬ 
low  its  missionaries  to  solicit  from  the  field.  They  must 
report  any  such  desire  or  intention  to  the  home  office  for 
its  attention;  yet  their  work,  buildings,  their  men  and 
their  women  are  among  the  best  cared  for  and  best 
equipped  and  housed  on  the  entire  field. 

The  Woman’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  our 
Church  does  not  allow  its  representatives  to  personally 
solicit  from  the  field ;  and  their  bills  are  paid  with  model 
promptness. 

Debts  Whatever  the  rules  of  our  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
may  be  regarding  the  accumulation  of  debt,  it  has  been 
in  the  past  true  that  debts  were  contracted  without 
permission,  approval  or  knowledge  of  the  Board.  The 
rules  of  other  boards  in  this  respect  are  either  more 
rigid,  better  understood  or  better  enforced.  I  believe 
the  incurring  of  a  debt  on  the  foreign  field  without  the 
explicit  permission  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
should  be  impossible. 

If  the  Board  fails  to  keep  its  promises  there  may  arise 
a  current  deficiency,  but  that  should  not  be  possible  be¬ 
yond  the  termination  of  any  fiscal  year. 

—  8  — 


What  we  call  redistribution  on  the  field  is  in  some 
other  boards  attended  to  at  the  home  office;  and  in  my 
judgment  our  Board  might  well  do  the  same. 


Except  the  limited  amount  which  is  contingent  for  re¬ 
pairs  or  for  new  work,  actual  division  of  the 
money  should  be  definitely  determined  as  far  as  possible 
in  the  United  States  and  not  left  to  the  discretion  of  the 
missionaries  on  the  field.  The  forces  on  the  field 
would  welcome  such  a  decision ;  as  it  would  save 
them  much  perplexity  and  very  much  responsibility.  It 
would  also  result  in  clarifying  and  simplifying  the  work 
of  the  General  .Missionary  Committee  at  its  annual  meet¬ 
ing. 


The  Board  of  Managers  should  make  a  statement  of 
the  names  of  the  regular  missionaries  and  their  salaries, 
the  regular  charges  for  interest,  rent  and  maintenance 
of  our  mission  properties  and  further  set  down  each  in¬ 
dividual  sum  for  which  we  are  absolutely  pledged  on  the 
foreign  field.  It  will  then  be  found  that  there  really  is 
but  a  relatively  small  sum  of  money  left  in  regard  to 
which  the  General  Missionary  Committee  has  any  other 
than  the  most  formal  function  or  authority. 


Of  the  $1,500,000  of  all  kinds  appropriated  by  the  Gen¬ 
eral  Committee  in  any  recent  year,  the  great  bulk  is  a 
positive  charge,  which  cannot  vary,  unless  we  are  to 
default  on  our  obligations,  as  we  do  every  time  we  make 
a  cut  in  a  missionary’s  salary.  If  the  Church  at  large 
knew  that  the  General  Missionary  Committee  when  it 
came  together,  after  all  really  had  but  a  few  hundred 
thousand  dollars  to  pass  upon  as  to  how  it  should  be 
expended,  would  not  the  real  poverty  of  our  efforts  for 
new  work  be  more  strikingly  apparent? 

When  active  missionaries  and  institutions  have  been 
on  the  field  for  several  years  and  are  doing  acceptable 
work,  it  is  really  no  longer  a  question  of  appropriation ; 
they  are  a  fixed  charge  and  the  approval  of  them  by  the 
Committee  after  presentation  by  the  Board  of  Managers 
should  be  a  matter  of  form,  hardly  open  for  discussion. 

i 

—  9  — 


General 

Committee 


Self 

Support 


JSconom^ 

or 

Xsffictencg; 

mamcb? 


If  the  spirit  of  this  suggestion  could  be  adopted,  the 
General  Committee  would  have  far  more  time  to  consider 
principles  and  plans ;  and  there  would  be  no  accident  by 
which  the  total  amount  sent  to  a  Foreign  Conference, 
through  error  in  bulk  calculations  turned  out  to  be  less 
than  was  needed  for  the  mere  salaries  of  the  regular 
settled  missionaries.  Salaries,  interest,  and  rent  are  in 
all  commercial  transactions  considered  a  prior  and  irre¬ 
ducible  lien.  Should  the  Church  be  less  sensitive  to  ob¬ 
ligation? 


On  the  other  hand,  the  question  of  self-support  should 
be  very  carefully  studied  anew  and  supreme  effort  be 
made  to  push  it  to  the  maximum  result.  Opinions  of 
missionaries  on  the  field  differ  in  regard  to  this  question. 
I  he  Board  at  home,  after  conference  in  the  most  thor¬ 
ough  manner,  should  adopt  a  policy  for  each  field  and 
firmly  insist  that  all  missionaries  treat  the  question  ac¬ 
cording  to  the  standard  set  for  the  district  in  which  they 
work. 


In  a  geenral  way  our  Board  is  spending  each  year 
$1,500,000  and  the  Woman's  Foreign  Missionary  Society 
$800,000.  At  5  per  cent,  this  would  be  the  income  of  an 
invested  fund  of  $46,000,000.  Truly  an  enormous  trust 
placed  in  our  care. 


What  administration  of  this  fund  should  we  strive  for? 
A  cheap  administration  or  an  efficient  administration? 
fhere  can  be  no  question  but  that  a  truly  efficient  ad¬ 
ministration  of  the  money,  with  all  possible  regard  for 
economy,  should  be  the  aim  of  the  church.  Great  effort 
is  being  made  by  the  present  Secretaries  and  the  Board 
to  increase  the  efficiency  in  the  expenditure  of  money ; 
and  I  wish  to  emphasize  the  necessity  of  some  of  the 
expenditures  for  this  purpose  that  they  have  felt  forced 
to  make. 

We  should  know  where  every  penny  of  our  money 
goes  on  the  foreign  field  and  we  should  know  that  it 
reaches  the  place  for  which  it  is  intended.  It  is  equally 
important  we  should  know  what  the  money  does,  after  it 
reaches  the  field.  If  we  pay  a  salary  do  we  get  its  equi- 


-10  — 


valent  in  resultful  efficiency?  If  we  pay  rent  for  a 
building,  do  we  get  an  equivalent  result  from  the  build¬ 
ing?  If  we  pay  interest  on  a  loan,  can  we  see  that  the 
money  received  from  the  loan  justifies  the  interest  ex¬ 
penditure? 

Would  any  commercial  enterprise  spending  this 
amount  of  money,  exist  today  without  having  some  com¬ 
petent  examination  into  the  accounts  of  its  missions, 
schools,  publishing  houses,  that  would  determine  whether 
the  books  were  kept  uniformly  and  correctly;  ought  not 
those  who  have  charge  of  the  finances  on  the  field  to 
have  periodical  assistance  from  the  Home  Office  by  a 
duly  qualified  accountant?  Ought  not  every  mission  or 
group  of  missions  to  have  its  own  Treasurer,  who  has 
nothing  to  do  but  attend  to  the  material  affairs  of  our 
work  in  that  section? 

Good  practice  would  seem  to  indicate  it  and  the  fact 
that  the  most  carefully  ordered  mission  boards  adopt  this 
plan,  would  seem  to  prove  its  wisdom.  We  are  trying  this 
plan  in  some  places;  but  apparently  it  has  not  been 
adopted  as  a  settled  principle ;  and  those  mission 
treasurers  who  have  been  appointed  are  not  working  on 
a  uniform  or  well  developed  plan. 

I  found  upon  the  field  a  conviction,  that  the  length  of 
term  should  be  shortened  below  seven  years ;  and  that 
furloughs  should  be  insisted  upon  and  allowed,  even  if 
work  had  to  be  temporarily  abandoned;  rather  than  to 
allow  or  request  missionaries  to  over-stay  their  time.  The 
wear  and  tear  on  a  missionary’s  life  is  the  most  expensive 
luxury  in  which  we  can  indulge. 

The  question  of  pensions  and  of  increased  salaries,  or 
of  salaries  graded  according  to  th£  length  oi  service. 
°eing  already  under  discussion,  I  only  give  my  general 
approval  to  the  necessity  of  some  increase.  This  is 
particularly  true  in  the  case  of  native  preachers  and 
teachers,  who  have  either  been  educated  in  this  country 
or  who  have  received  the  best  education  which  they  could 
get  in  their  native  lands.  We  must  not  let  the  best  men 
be  taken  away  from  us  all  the  time  by  government 
schools  and  other  institutions. 


STernt 

Ifurloucjb 

pension 


-11  — 


JSufldtngs 


On  the  whole,  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  may  well 
be  proud  of  the  immense  investment  which  it  has  in  build¬ 
ings,  as  they  are  scattered  all  over  the  mission  field.  The 
plan  and  preparation  for  a  developing  work  are  most 
statesmanlike.  Criticism  of  details  after  the  work  is 
done  is  only  useful  as  a  guide  in  the  future. 


Architect  Has  not  the  time  come  to  relieve  ministers,  physicians, 
teachers  and  other  missionaries  from  the  responsibility 
of  planning  and  erecting  buildings,  a  work  for  which 
they  were  never  trained.  If  we  ask  for  it,  are  we  not  as 
likely  to  find  a  qualified  architect  volunteering  for  the 
missionary  cause,  as  a  physician?  We  once  advertised  for 
a  man  to  teach  engineering  in  the  Foochow  School  and 
found  that  we  already  had  a  volunteer  application  from  a 
man  who  proved  to  be  very  competent.  I  believe  we 
should  try  the  experiment  with  an  architect  and  see 
what  the  result  would  be  in  better  building,  architecture 
and  detailed  planning.  The  missionary  in  charge  of 
one  of  our  largest  school  buildings  told  me  with  great 
glee  that  he  had  saved  a  salary  of  a  missionary  by  being 
his  own  architect.  The  only  comment  that  I  could  pos¬ 
sibly  make  to  him  was  that  the  building  showed  it.  He 
had  done  the  best  he  could,  but  there  were  blemishes  in 
the  building  and  its  planning  which  stand  to  vex  anybody 
who  looks  at  it  or  has  to  use  it,  for  all  time. 

Supennss  That  the  missionaries  themselves  feel  a  necessity  for 
tenDent  this  is  shown  by  the  comparatively  recent  appointment 
of  Mr.  Trimble  to  superintend  the  building  of  the  Hos¬ 
pital  and  the  new  Woman’s  College  at  Foochow.  Mr. 
Trimble  is  doing  as  well  as  any  man  can  who  had  no 
previous  preparation,  and  a  man  who  went  out  on  the 
mission  field  to  do  regular  missionary  work.  He  con¬ 
sulted  me  as  to  whether  he  should  not  apply  to  the 
Board  for  permission  to  return  to  this  country  to  take  a 
tAvo  years’  course  fitting  him  for  this  work  to  which  he 
had  been  assigned.  This  shows  his  conception  of  the 
responsibility  and  possibility  of  such  a  position. 


Either  of  these,  architect  or  superintendent,  could  cover 
a  considerable  territory ;  and,  if  the  right  man  were 


—  12  — 


found,  need  not  necessarily  be  restricted  to  one  country  ; 
though  it  is  certain  that  there  would  be  in  such  a  country 
as  China  abundant  occupation  for  more  than  one  man 
even  in  our  own  missions. 


This  is  a  field  in  which  Union  effort  might  perhaps  be 
worked  to  advantage.  The  fact  that  one  or  two  experi¬ 
ments  in  taking  out  American  contractors  have  proved 
unfortunate,  should  not  militate  against  the  general 
principle  of  having  men  to  spend  the  money  of  our  Board 
who  have  some  special  qualifications  for  the  work  in 
hand. 


The  Yale  College  Mission  at  Chang  Hsa  took  an  archi¬ 
tect  from  the  United  States  this  Spring  all  the  way  to 
China  for  the  purpose  of  studying  the  plans  for  their 
new  hospital  building.  He  returned  home  to  complete 
them.  The  money  was  contributed  with  this  as  a  special 
condition.  The  time  has  come,  I  believe,  to  make  this  im¬ 
provement  over  having  plans  drawn  in  this  country  by 
people  who  have  never  seen  the  location,  and  having 
modifications  made  upon  the  ground  by  someone  not 
competent  to  do  it. 

I  am  stating  what  I  believe  to  be  a  fact  when  I  sav 
that  the  buildings  erected  and  maintained  by  the  Wo¬ 
man’s  Foreign  Missionary  Society  are,  in  a  general  way, 
better  built,  better  constructed  and  better  cared  for, 
than  the  buildings  erected  by  the  Board  of  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sions.  Is  this  because  women  are  more  careful,  more 
intelligent  in  spending  money  than  men?  If  so,  let  us 
have  women  superintendents  of  buildings. 


Surely,  a  cursory  inspection  will  show  that  some  of 
the  schools,  hospitals  and  residences  of  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions  are  not  cared  for  as  they 
might  be ;  and  this  is  entirely  independent  of  the  condi¬ 
tions  which  come  from  insufficient  money  for  re¬ 
pairs.  It  is  a  lack  of  appreciation  or  grasp,  of  the 
method  necessary  to  obtain  a  good  result  on  the  part  of 
the  representatives  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 

—  13  — 


mic 

/HMssion 


m.  jf.  s. 


poor 

ibousekeeptnc? 


Inasmuch  as  one  of  the  most  potent  influences  for  good 
in  missionary  lands  is  the  example  of  the  Christian  • 
American  home  and  the  community  life  in  our  schools* 
and  the  social  surroundings  of  our  churches,  more  pres¬ 
sure  should  be  brought  to  bear  in  the  preparation  of 
our  representatives  so  that  they  may  produce  other  re¬ 
sults  than  we  are  getting  at  present. 


Equipment 


It  is  much  easier  to  get  money  for  buildings  than  for 
men  and  women,  though  the  latter  are  more  important. 
It  is  also  easier  to  get  money  for  buildings  than  for 
equipment ;  and  yet  a  laboratory,  a  scientific  outfit,  proper 
dormitory  conditions,  model  sanitary  arrangements  are 
far  more  important  than  handsome  brick  or  stone  walls. 


Adjoining  the  beautiful  buildings  of  the  Kwansei 
Gakuin  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South, 
and  the  Methodist  Church  of  Canada  in  Kobe,  Japan, 
is  the  plain  frame  building,  in  which  the  Japanese 
government  has  housed  its  Higher  Commercial  School. 
Plain  building,  plain  seats  and  desks,  plain  walls  and 
surroundings;  but  in  this  one  school  are  twenty-three 
foreign  teachers;  and  the  equipment  to  produce  highly 
trained  commercial  students  is  the  equal  of  anything  in 
the  world. 


The  time  is  coming  when  the  Church,  in  its 
missions,  will  have  to  fit  up  Social  Headquarters  and 
Physical  Culture  departments  and  the  whole  round  of 
recreative  agencies  which  are  being  introduced  here  at 
home  and  which  have  already  been  introduced  on  the 
foreign  field  by  some  agencies  if  it  is  not  to  suffer  the 
same  diversion  of  interest  as  has  taken  place  here  at 
home.  When  that  time  comes,  it  should  be  remembered 
that  the  equipment  is  of  even  more  importance  than  the 
building. 


—  14  — 


In  connection  with  our  educational  work,  I  should  like 
to  urge  the  extension  of  what  is  known  as  the  system  of 
contract  teachers.  It  seemed  to  me  to  work  well  in  the 
Malay  States  where  we  have  most  of  it ;  it  works  ex¬ 
ceedingly  well  in  the  missions  of  other  Boards  where  it  is 
far  more  widely  developed  than  with  us  and  it  would 
surely  provide  us  with  persons  who  felt  that  they  had  a 
gift  of  teaching  and  had  more  or  less  specialized  in  that 
work.  At  the  same  time  it  would  afford  an  opportunity 
to  ascertain  whether  the  teacher  was  fitted  for  continu¬ 
ance  in  actual  missionary  work. 

* 

The  number  of  missionaries  on  the  field  who  are  teach¬ 
ing  and  who  do  not  like  that  work  and  did  not  volunteer 
for  a  pedagogical  position,  is  altogether  too  great  for  best 
results  in  our  schools. 

The  movement  which  is  being  inaugurated  by  Dr. 
Gamewell  to  standardize,  harmonize  and  co-ordinate  the 
educational  work  in  our  own  and  in  other  denominations 
is  one  of  great  importance  and  urgency.  It  should 
be  extended  to  India,  Japan  and  other  mission 
fields.  As  it  is,  we  have  nothing  but  the  claims  of  the 
missionaries  in  charge,  at  each  station,  by  which  to  de¬ 
termine  whether  any  given  institution  is  or  is  not  of 
proper  grade;  and  as  yet  the  question  of  the  grade  is 
only  imperfectly  understood  by  the  different  school  au¬ 
thorities. 

In  this  country,  the  General  Education  Board  now  has 
better  information  regarding  the  educational  institutions 
of  the  United  States  than  most  of  the  institutions  have 
themselves  in  their  own  records.  Some  method  should 
be  devised  by  which  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  at 
home,  should  have  thoroughly  intelligent,  itemized,  ap¬ 
proved  record  of  the  general  condition  and  standing  of 
each  of  its  schools.  In  no  other  way  can  we  be  sure  of 
the  return  that  we  are  getting  for  the  money  and  labor 
invested  in  this  branch  of  the  service. 

There  seems  to  be  no  uniform  principle  governing  the 
question,  as  to  whether  a  boarding  school  shall  take  day 
pupils,  if  it  have  room  for  them,  and  if  the  fees  received 
from  them  would  help  in  paying  the  expenses. 


BCmcaticn 

Contract 

fteacbers 


5)r.  0ame\vell 


Dap  pupils 


15  — 


After  listening  to  the  arguments  advanced  on  both  sides, 
I  feel  sure  that,  as  soon  as  possible,  it  should  be  under¬ 
stood  to  be  the  rule  of  the  Board,  that  the  building  facili¬ 
ties  and  the  teaching  facilities  of  all  our  schools  should  be 
extended  to  the  largest  number  of  pupils  possible  at  all 
times,  irrespective  of  whether  they  be  day  pupils  or 
boarding  pupils. 

The  personal  wishes  or  views  of  individual  teachers 
should  hardly  be  allowed  to  interfere  with  getting  the 
largest  amount  of  efficiency  and  production  out  of  the 
staff  whose  salaries  we  have  contracted  to  pay  and  out 
of  the  buildings  which  we  have  to  maintain. 

The  conduct  of  orphanages  or  homes,  especially  where 
they  were  started  in  times  of  famine,  would  seem  to  re¬ 
quire  some  greater  development  of  vocational  instruction 
or  industrial  education.  It  is  quite  as  important  for  us 
to  develop  Christian  mechanics,  clerks,  government  em¬ 
ployes  and  business  men,  as  it  is  to  develop  Christian 
preachers. 

StuDent  In  some  of  our  missions  a  beginning  has  been  made 
Ifaealtb  in  giving  close  attention  to  the  health  of  the  students. 

Recent  discoveries  as  to  the  relation  between  eyesight, 
hearing,  the  care  of  the  teeth,  etc.,  to  the  results  of  the 
work  of  individual  students,  should  be  borne  in  mind  by 
our  Board  in  the  reorganization  of  its  educational  work. 
The  relation  of  physical  condition  to  intellectual  efficiency 
seems  to  be  undisputed,  and  the  best  system  of  super¬ 
vision  that  can  be  organized  on  the  field  should  be  in¬ 
troduced  at  the  earliest  possible  date  in  the  interest  of 

economical  administration  of  our  finances. 

♦ 

I  am  of  the  opinion  that  our  medical  missionary  work 
should  also  include  professional  dentistry. 

The  Severance  Union  Medical  School  at  Seoul,  Korea, 
has  put  into  its  new  building  a  full  equipment  for  instruc¬ 
tion  in  dentistry,  recognizing  its  relation  to  the  mission¬ 
ary  program  of  the  immediate  future. 

But  the  great  need  in  our  schools  is,  as  it  always 
has  been,  better  teachers  and  more  of  them,  and  more 
scientific  care  in  the  selection  of  students  whom  we  ad¬ 
vance  to  the  higher  grades. 

o  o 


—  16 


GaniMfcates 


In  the  Epworth  Herald,  August  23,  1913,  we  are  told 
of  the  very  large  numbers  of  men  and  women  who  are 
offering  themselves  for  all  kinds  of  Christian  work 
abroad  and  at  home ;  numbers  greatly  in  excess  of  any 
other  period.  During  the  past  few  years  of  financial 
stringency,  over  and  over  again,  from  the  platform,  the 
Church  has  been  told  that  there  are  many  young  men 
and  women  waiting  to  be  sent  to  the  foreign  field,  if  only 
the  money  could  be  obtained. 

If  these  conditions  prevail,  it  certainly  should  be  easy 
to  put  into  practice  the  best  approved  methods  for  the 
selection  of  candidates,  so  as  to  insure,  as  far  as  possible, 
success  after  they  once  get  on  the  field  and  to  prevent 
sending  out  those  who  are  physically,  intellectually,  mor¬ 
ally  and  temperamentally  unsuited  for  the  work. 

I  know  that  physical  examination  has  been  required  for 
a  long  time ;  and  that  much  care  has  been  exercised  to 
secure  proper  references  as  to  mental,  moral  and  other 
qualifications.  I  also  know  that  with  the  very  best  pos¬ 
sible  methods  some  mistakes  will  be  made,  some  improper 
candidates  will  be  selected  and  some  will  turn  out  un¬ 
fortunately  on  the  field. 

There  should  be  the  most  careful  conference  between 
physicians  on  the  field,  who  know  the  work  and  medical 
missionaries  on  furlough,  and  the  staff  of  physicians  at 
home,  selected  b}^  the  Board  to  make  the  examination.  If 
it  has  not  been  done  already,  the  physical  examination 
blanks  of  our  Board  should  be  compared  with  those  of 
other  Boards,  with  that  of  the  Young  Men’s  Christian 
Association,  and  with  those  of  Life  Insurance  Companies 
and  these  should  be  constantly  corrected  by  experience 
derived  from  conference  with  physicians  who  are  or  have 
been  at  work  on  the  field. 


IRtCfiS 

Zests 


—  17  — 


Consult 

ZlMsstonarles 


m.  c.  h. 


In  response  to  inquiries  in  many  places  on  the  field,  I 
was  told  that  the  missionaries  on  the  field  had  seldom 
been  consulted  as  to  the  list  of  requirements  which 
should  be  possessed  by  candidates  applying  for  appoint¬ 
ment. 

More  attention  should  be  given  to  vocational  prepara¬ 
tion  of  missionaries.  We  no  longer  send  out  a  medical 
missionary  without  as  a  pre-requisite,  more  or  less  thor¬ 
ough  medical  training.  This  preparation  should  constant¬ 
ly  be  kept  at  the  highest  possible  point ;  but  are  we  as 
careful  that  those  who  are  sent  out  to  evangelistic  work 
have  had  training  in  that  line  and  are  specially  fitted  for 
that  work?  Have  we  been  careful  in  selecting  for  teach¬ 
ers  those  who  have  predilection  and  special  preparation 
for  that  work? 

There  is  a  certain  amount  of  literary  work  to  be  done  on 
the  field.  Have  we  been  careful  to  send  out  missionaries 
with  special  preparation  for  this?  Have  we  not  more 
than  once  sent  out  a  trained  civil  engineer  to  take  care 
of  an  industrial  carpentershop  or  machineshop?  These 
things  would  not  be  done  at  home  and  should  not  be  done 
for  the  foreign  field. 

The  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  has  achieved  a 
most  enviable  record  in  the  ability  and  efficiency  of  the 
men  whom  they  have  sent  to  foreign  fields.  To  be  sure, 
the  number  does  not  get  up  into  the  hundreds  very  far, 
but  it  is  quite  as  great  as  the  total  number  of  missionaries 
from  some  of  the  smaller  bodies.  The  fact  that  no  man 
is  sent  by  the  Young  Men’s  Christian  Association  to  the 
foreign  field  until  he  has  made  good  at  home  has  some¬ 
thing  to  do  with  the  remarkable  progress  and  success  of 
the  special  class  of  work  to  which  these  workers  are 
called. 

Modern  industrial  enterprises  today  are  employing 
highly  educated  and  trained  experts,  before  whom  all  ap¬ 
plications  come  and  are  tested  by  a  scientific  efficiency 
examination.  The  success  in  this  direction  already 
achieved  would  indicate  that  it  is  now  or  soon  will  be, 
possible,  by  a  practically  simple  examination  to  determine 
with  startling  accuracy  questions  of  mental,  moral,  phys- 

—  18  — 


ical  and  temperamental  ability  and  quality  that  are  even 
unknown  to  the  candidate  personally,  but  which  stand  re¬ 
vealed  unconsciously  during*  the  examination. 

Inasmuch  as  the  time  has  passed  when  piety  was  con¬ 
sidered  the  sole  requisite  for  missionary  work  and  when 
the  awakening'  nations,  where  missionaries  work,  demand 
an  ever  increasing  ability  in  all  directions,  ought  not  our 
Board  to  at  once  harness  to  itself  the  most  effective  and 
scientific  method  known  to  determine  in  advance  all  that 
can  be  known  of  the  perfections  and  imperfections  of 
those  who  present  themselves  for  candidates. 

Has  the  Board  any  longer  a  moral  right  to  spend  such 
an  immense  sum  of  money  in  salaries,  without  spending 
the  small  amount  that  would  be  necessary  in  order  to  get 
this  necessary  knowledge  in  advance. 

Upon  all  the  mission  fields  there  are  cases  not  a  few 
of  what  may  be  called  square  pegs  in  round  holes  and 
vice  versa,  or  of  men  who  are  too  large  for  small  work 
and  too  small  for  large  work.  Recent  discoveries  if  prop¬ 
erly  applied  will  go  far  to  obviate  these  cases  or  reduce 
their  number  in  the  future. 

I  should  say  that  whatever  preparation  can  be  obtained 
by  candidates  before  they  leave  the  United  States  would 
be  a  great  advantage.  For  that  reason  the  study  of 
Phonetics  as  now  understood  should  be  insisted  upon  as  a 
pre-requisite  to  appointment  for  the  Orient. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  requires  of 
every  woman  that  is  sent  out  that  she  take  a  two  years’ 
course  or  the  equivalent  in  their  missionary  training 
school.  We  have  the  schools,  but  I  do  not  know  that  we 
always  require  the  preparation. 

Some  method  should  be  devised  for  making  it  sure  that 
all  missionaries,  no  matter  for  which  arm  of  the  service 
they  are  sent  out,  whether  for  permanent  service  or  for 
contract  service — should  all  have  preparation  up  to  a  cer¬ 
tain  standard,  in  the  English  Bible  and  its  use,  in  Church 
doctrine  and  in  methods  of  presenting  religious  truth  to 
inquirers.  It  will  no  longer  do  to  pre-suppose  ability  in 


J6tTicienc\] 

Expert 


JSibl e 
Gramma 


19  — 


this  direction,  because  of  any  other  attainment  in  educa¬ 
tion  or  character.  Definite  examinations  in  this  direction 
should  be  insisted  upon. 


Xanguage 

StufcE 


Wew 

36looD 


It  should  also  be  borne  in  mind  that  fluency  in  the  use 
of  a  foreign  language  itself  does  not  necessarily  mean  pro¬ 
ficiency.  There  are  very  fluent  speakers  of  Oriental  lan¬ 
guages  who  still  speak  most  incorrectly.  It  cannot  be  a 
good  thing  for  our  mission  work  to  have  that  number 
increased. 

The  representatives  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
in  the  foreign  field  have  not  the  reputation  of  being 
among  the  best  linguists.  The  time  has  come  to  reassert 
the  right  of  every  missionary  sent  out  to  at  least  one  year 
with  nothing  to  do  but  to  study  the  language,  except  for 
such  voluntary  service  as  he  may  see  fit  to  render.  The 
Oriental  nations  with  their  aptitude  for  language  and 
their  awakening  comprehension  of  modern  knowledge, 
are  becoming  more  and  more  intolerant  of,  and  less  sus¬ 
ceptible  to  influence  from,  those  who  only  imperfectly 
understand  their  language. 

Even  in  cases  where  the  contract  rule  for  teachers 
would  not  apply,  it  has  been  suggested  that  missionaries 
should  be  sent  out  on  trial  for  three  years.  I  am  not  sure 
if  this  idea  would  worjc;  but  there  is  much  to  be  said  in 
favor  of  fixing  some  short  term,  at  the  close  of  which  the 
authorities  at  home  or  on  the  field  could  recall  or  retire 
without  prejudice  those  who  have  proved  themselves  not 
fitted  for  the  work. 


As  many  of  you  probably  know  the  question  is  being 
discussed,  if  we  can  not  strengthen  our  missionary  forces 
and  get  a  line  on  good  available,  new  material  for  the 
permanent  staff  by  encouraging  volunteers  for  one  year 
in  mission  work  where  only  English  is  required,  choices 
to  be  made  from  our  brightest  young  graduates  or  from 
among  experienced  Professors  who  are  planning  a  year 
abroad.  Either  of  these  would  give  us,  for  a  school  year, 


—  20  — 


the  newest  ideas  and  methods,  with  minimum  salaries  and 
in  many  cases  no  traveling  expenses. 

.Many  have  done  excellent  missionary  work,  but  could 
not  stay  for  life;  why  not  try  using  some  who  are  not 
yet  ready  to  promise  to  stay  for  life? 


It  is  not  a  proper  use  of  trust  funds  to  continue  any 
one  in  the  service  that  cannot  or  does  not  render  service 
according  to  accepted  standards.  Economy  is  one  great 
watchword ;  but  efficiency  is  a  greater. 


Finally,  I  believe  we  should  not  wait  for  men  and 
women  to  volunteer  for  the  mission  field ;  and  that  Secre¬ 
taries,  Bishops,  Managers  and  members  of  the  General 
Committee,  should  be  urged  to  be  on  the  lookout  for 
suitable  material.  In  the  days  of  our  Fathers  we  did  not, 
and  to  some  extent  still  today,  we  do  not  hesitate  to  tell 
young  men  that  we  believe  they  are  called  to  the  minis¬ 
try.  We  do  not  hesitate  to  urge  young  women  to  select 
certain  lines  of  work  at  home.  Why  should  we  not  be 
even  more  definite  and  explicit  in  searching  for  material 
for  the  foreign  field  among  those  who  have  already  made 
good  and  proved  their  worth  in  kindred  enterprises  at 
home  ? 


The  secret  of  the  high  average  attained  by  the  Young 
Men’s  Christian  Association  in  the  selection  of  their  rep¬ 
resentatives  before  mentioned,  is  said  to  be  that  every 
one  of  their  important  men  at  home  is  constantly  on  the 
alert  to  find  desirable  young  men  who  are  achieving  suc¬ 
cess  and  then  to  endeavor  to  see  if  there  is  not  a  call 
from  Above  to  coincide  with  the  call  from  the  office  here 
below. 


Call 

/Hben 


—  21  — 


/ifoeDical 

‘IXHotfc 


Best 

/Nobels 


®ur 

Hospitals 


Medical  missionaries’  work  is  not  new;  and  for  man}^ 
years,  a  plea  for  hospitals  in  foreign  lands  has  been  one  of 
the  most  popular  and  successful  appeals  that  could  be 
made  to  the  generously  inclined. 

There  are  dotted  over  the  world  quite  a  number  of 
missionary  hospitals  which  are  considered  models  of  their 
kind;  but  I  believe  it  strictly  true  that  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  has  never  been  a  real  leader  in  this 
branch  of  missionary  endeavor. 


Bishop  Bashford  in  a  letter  to  me,  dated  July  21st,  says 
that  we  have  twenty-three  hospitals  in  China  and  the 
Presbyterian  Church  has  twenty-eight ;  and  that  we 
treated  nearly  eight  thousand  patients  in  our  hospitals 
in  China  in  1912  and  had  one  hundred  and  thirteen  thou¬ 
sand  other  patients  coming  to  our  dispensaries. 

It  is  also  true  that  there  is  in  India  one  hospital  of  the 
W.  F.  M.  S.,  that  had  nearly  thirty  thousand  cases  of  all 
kinds  in  one  }^ear. 


But,  notwithstanding  these  figures,  and  notwithstand¬ 
ing  the  enormous  work  which  we  have  done,  our  build¬ 
ings,  equipment  and  staff  are  not  what  they  should  be, 
nor  comparable  even  in  the  best  instances  to  those  of 
some  of  the  other  Boards.  With  a  desire  to  be  perfectly 
frank,  I  believe  that  as  a  result  of  two  trips  around  the 
world  since  1910,  I  shall  have  to  give  as  my  opinion  that 
the  United  Presbyterian  Hospital  at  Assiut,  Egypt,  the 
Congregational  Hospital  at  Madura,  India,  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Hospital  at  Seoul,  Korea,  the  Scotch  Hospital  at 
Damascus,  Syria,  or  the  Scotch  Hospital  at  Mukden, 
Manchuria,  is  superior  to  any  that  I  have  seen  under  the 
control  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 


The  situation  in  which  we,  as  a  Church,  are  leaving 
doctors,  men  and  women,  on  the  field  with  inadequate 
equipment,  without  proper  assistance,  is  of  more  vital 
importance  even  than  the  defective  equipment  of  some  of 
our  schools  and  churches.  The  properly  equipped  doctor 


—  22  — 


in  a  community  on  the  mission  fields  has  certainly  as 
lasting  an  influence  as  a  teacher  or  minister.  The  sal¬ 
vation  of  these  races  requires  that  physicians  shall  be  men 
of  Christian  character ;  and  the  question  of  educating  na¬ 
tive  physicians  is  even  more  important  than  supplying 
foreign  physicians  to  treat  patients.  Efficient  medical 
schools  cannot  exist  without  good  hospitals  and  proper 
staff  ;  and  it  is  the  problem  of  the  medical  school,  as  well 
as  the  hospital,  that  now  demands  attention. 


As  the  result  of  the  Mott  Conference  in  different  coun¬ 
tries,  it  is  one  of  the  findings,  that  every  prop¬ 
erly  equipped  hospital  should  have  two  foreign  phy¬ 
sicians  and  one  foreign  nurse.  Further,  that,  in  the 
judgment  of  the  Commission  and  the  missionaries  on  the 
field,  at  the  earliest  possible  moment,  self-support  in  the 
missionary  hospital  should  be  insisted  upon.  We  appear 
to  have  no  well  defined  policy  as  to  either  of  these  mat¬ 
ters. 


I  have  tried  to  study  very  carefully  the  question  of 
separate  hospitals  for  men  and  for  women  with  a  separate 
staff  for  each. 


In  view  of  the  fact  that  in  many  of  our  women's  hos¬ 
pitals  they  reply  on  men  surgeons  to  do  much  of  the 
operating ;  in  view  of  the  fact  that  in  the  Severance  Pres¬ 
byterian  Hospital  at  Seoul,  Korea,  and  elsewhere  men 
and  women  patients  are  served  in  the  one  hospital ;  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  at  several  women’s  hospitals,  the 
opinion  was  expressed  to  me  that  there  should  be  closer 
affiliation  between  the  hospitals  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  and  those  of  the  W.  F.  M.  S. ;  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  at  Taianfu,  China,  owing  to  the  furlough  of  the 
woman  physician  in  charge  of  the  W.  F.  M.  S.  Hospital, 
their  very  good  building  was  closed  and  the  medical 
work  of  the  mission  was  handed  over  to  the  doctor  of 
the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions,  who  had  most  unsuitable 
buildings;  and  if  the  relations  between  the  two  boards 
were  close  enough  the  surgeon  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  might  have  used  the  building  of  the  W.  F.  M.  S. 


~  23  — 


in  the  interim — In  view  of  all  these  things,  and  of  what 
seems  the  opening  of  a  new  era,  I  recommend 
strongly  the  consideration  by  some  competent  Medical 
Board  of  the  whole  question  of  the  readjustment  of  our 
medical  work  on  the  foreign  field. 


This  readjustment  should  relate  not  only  to  the  con¬ 
duct  of  Hospitals  and  Medical  Schools,  but  should  in¬ 
clude  some  suggestions  as  to  the  way  in  which  physicians 
are  appointed  to  and  transferred  on  the  field.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  for  purposes  of  Mission  discipline,  minis¬ 
ters,  teachers,  physicians,  men  and  women,  must  all  be 
subordinate  to  the  Mission  or  to  the  Conference,  and, 
therefore,  under  the  direction  of  the  General  Superin¬ 
tendent.  But,  just  as  the  tendency  at  home  is  to  have 
the  instructors  of  the  higher  grades  selected  by  the  trus¬ 
tees  of  the  institutions,  subject  only  to  approval;  so  I  be¬ 
lieve  that  some  hospital  board  or  physicians  on  the  field, 
or  both,  should  have  a  large  voice  in  the  assignment  of  a 
physician  to  his  or  her  specific  appointment.  A  physician 
should  not  be  changed  on  the  mission  field  any  more  than 
at  home,  if  it  can  be  avoided. 

It  would  also  seem  that  the  physicians  sent  out  by  the 
two  boards  should  be  available  for  making  study  of  the 
health  of  the  mission  workers  and  students  and  of  the 
relations  between  health  and  effective  progress  on  the 
part  of  the  pupils. 


Matters  have  progressed  so  far  in  New  York  City  that 
a  student  cannot  stay  in  the  College  of  the  City  of  New 
York,  unless  he  takes  proper  care  of  his  teeth.  The  space 
he  occupies  and  the  mone)r  that  he  costs  are  too  import¬ 
ant  to  be  wasted  in  inefficient  effort. 


While  matters  have  not  reached  any  such  point  in  for¬ 
eign  countries,  we  have  a  right,  as  a  Board,  to  make 
selections  according  to  most  scientific  methods,  for  all 
those  for  whom  we  provide  advanced  education.  And 
the  physicians  whom  we  send  out  should  be  competent  to, 
and  should  be  expected  to,  assist  in  making  these  discrim¬ 
inations. 


—  24 


Time  would  fail  me  to  even  enumerate  the  physicians, 
men  and  women  who  I  met,  that  were  burdened  beyond 
description  with  their  tasks  or  to  write  adequately  of  the 
heroic  services  they  wrere  rendering. 


My  plea  is  for  more  intelligent  support  at  the  stations 
where  we  now  have  hospitals  and  dispensaries,  and  that 
no  more  be  established  except  they  are  properly  manned 
and  properly  equipped.  My  plea  is  also  for  unusual  in¬ 
terest  in  the  subject  of  medical  education  of  native  phy¬ 
sicians  ;  for  in  this  way  alone  can  the  demand  be  supplied 
and  the  danger  averted  of  having  these  places  filled  by 
physicians  of  non-Christian  education.  Today  in  Shan¬ 
ghai,  China,  the  two  best  medical  schools  for  native 
training  are  a  Japanese  and  a  German  school,  neither  of 
which  is  conducted  with  any  regard  whatever  to  religion 
or  ethics. 


Publishing  and  circulating  religious  literature  is  un¬ 
questionably  the  duty  of  the  Board  of  Foreign  Missions. 
Engaging  in  the  printing,  binding  and  bookselling  busi¬ 
ness  may  have  been  or  may  be  a  temporary  necessary 
expedient;  but  the  condition  of  most  of  our  publishing 
houses  at  the  present  time,  and  their  history  indicate, 
that  even  this  expedient  is  at  least  doubtful. 


Personally,  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  majority  of 
the  printing  houses  and  stores  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  should  be  closed  out  and  that  we  should  cease 
to  be  in  commercial  business,  except  as  we  publish  and 
authoritatively  issue  the  necessary  books  and  other  litera¬ 
ture  required  to  develop  the  work  of  our  society. 


Economic  conditions  militate  against  our  being  able 
to  compete  with  native  work. 

The  supervision  necessary  to  carry  on  these  competing 
business  enterprises  has  been  a  draft  on  the  time, 
strength,  ability  and  character  of  our  missionary  force, 
in  each  of  several  cities,  for  which  there  has  been  no  ade¬ 
quate  compensation. 


iberoes 


Christian 

IRative 

physicians 


publishing 


—  25  — 


3Sook  Our  publishing  history  in  Madras,  Bombay,  Calcutta, 
Stores  Shanghai  and  Tokio  is  one  of  gradual  and  developing  dis¬ 
aster.  At  Lucknow  we  seem  to  have  reached  high  water 
mark  with  indications  of  approaching  decline.  At  Singa¬ 
pore  we  are  enjoying  a  wave  of  prosperity  which  has 
been  characteristic  of  most  of  the  older  institutions.  Too 
great  credit  cannot  be  given  to  the  admirable  manage¬ 
ment  at  Lucknow  and  Singapore;  but  the  question  should 
seriously  be  considered  of  realizing  on  the  present  ac¬ 
cumulation  of  capital,  before  the  decline  ensues  which 
has  been  the  history  in  practically  all  other  places. 

The  belief  prevalent  in  the  foreign  field  that  our  church 
should  be  able  to  establish  profitable  book  houses  there, 
as  in  the  home  field,  is  an  error. 


/l&etbobtet  The  Methodist  Book  Concern  in  the  United  States  en- 
JSook  joys  the  practical  monopoly  of  a  very  large  clientele  for 
Concern  several  lines  of  production.  This  trade  control  ensures  a 
positive  profit  even  at  competing  prices ;  and  necessitates 
such  a  large  plant  that  in  recent  years  a  profitable 
job  printing  and  binding  business  has  also  been  done. 
The  Book  Stores  of  our  Book  Concern  have  not  been 
commercially  successful. 

Although  the  Methodist  Book  Concern  has  been  so 
profitable,  there  are  many  of  the  opinion  that  they  could 
have  made  still  more  money,  had  their  work  been  done 
by  contract  rather  than  by  a  church  plant. 

If  there  be  one  department  of  missionary  endeavor  in 
which  the  union  principle  should  be  applied,  it  is  in  the 
publishing  houses.  The  movement  to  unite  our  publish¬ 
ing  house  in  Shanghai  with  that  of  the  Presbyterian 
Board ;  in  Foochow  with  that  of  the  American  Board, 
and  in  Tokio  with  as  many  other  denominations  as  is 
feasible,  should  be  fostered  and  brought  about. 

From  what  I  have  seen  on  the  foreign  field  and  from 
our  experiences  in  the  United  States,  I  believe  the  Church 
should  keep  out  of  commercial  business  as  much  as  pos¬ 
sible.  The  chances  of  success  are  too  slight;  and  the 
tendency  to  divert  the  attention  of  missionaries  from  the 
regular  work  of  superintendence  required  of  them  on  the 
field  is  likely  to  be  disastrous. 


26  — 


The  argument  for  encouraging  union  efforts  of  dif¬ 
ferent  denominations  on  the  foreign  field  is  that  efficiency 
should  count  for  more  than  denominationalism  or  mere 
economy. 


Whenever  the  forces  at  the  command  of  one  denomina- 
tion  are  not  sufficient  to  prosecute  any  kind  of  work  to 
thoroughly  efficient  results,  there  is  a  place  to  consider 
the  application  of  the  union  principle. 

The  findings  of  the  Mott  Conferences  in  various  coun¬ 
tries  have  confirmed  opinions  held  prior  to  these  confer¬ 
ences  in  many  places,  viz :  that  union  effort  in  medical 
education,  theological  education  and  higher  education 
generally  are  indicated  as  being  now  practically  indis¬ 
pensable,  if  these  lines  of  work  are  to  be  carried  to  proper 
successful  conclusions. 


As  an  illustration  I  have  in  mind  the  Union  Theologi¬ 
cal  School  in  connection  with  Nanking  University.  When 
I  was  there  in  April  last  a  course  was  arranged  to  give 
to  the  students  of  each  denomination  the  peculiarities  of 
its  own  form  of  creed  and  church  government;  the  stu¬ 
dents  of  the  various  denominations  insisted  upon  each 
hearing  all  of  the  lectures.  Such  an  opportunity  for  union 
study  must  make  more  widely  informed  students  than 
could  be  done  in  any  school  belonging  to  a  single  de¬ 
nomination. 

There  were  recently  in  China  and  India  sections 
where  there  are  eight  or  ten  different  small  de¬ 
nominational  groups  of  young  men,  each  endeav¬ 
oring  to  study  college  grade  work.  Each  group, 
however,  being  not  more  than  fifty  in  number,  it  is  im¬ 
possible  to  employ  enough  teachers  to  properly  instruct 
them  in  the  branches  necessary  and  at  the  same  time  to 
occupy  the  time  of  the  instructors.  In  a  general 
way,  we  have  decided  in  this  country  that  from  three 
hundred  to  five  hundred  is  the  proper  number  for  a 
fully  equipped  small  college.  If  we  can  combine  on  the 
mission  field  into  one  union  college  three  to  five  hundred 
students,  it  will  be  possible  to  give  the  students  a  proper 
education  by  securing  instructors  of  suitable  ability  who 
will  feel  that  the  task  is  really  worth  while. 


■Union 

.Efforts 


Wanking 


College 


27 


<§nit 

fMeOaes 


Detacher 

Stations 


Our  Church  is  already  party  to  several  union  move¬ 
ments  on  the  mission  field;  but  on  account  of  our  finan¬ 
cial  problems,  in  late  years,  we  do  not  appear  to  be  carry¬ 
ing  out  our  end  of  the  work  quite  as  it  should  be  done 
by  the  largest  denomination  at  work  on  the  mission  field. 

4 

To  speak  of  no  others,  it  is  our  duty  to  build  the  next 
building  needed  for  the  theological  school  at  Nanking. 
It  is  our  duty  to  provide  $5,000  for  the  medical  school  at 
Nanking.  At  the  Severance  Hospital  in  Seoul,  I  was  told 
they  were  waiting  with  great  interest  the  appointment 
of  our  physician  for  the  staff  and  our  provision  for  the 
support  of  this  department.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  ful¬ 
filling  these  obligations  will  not  be  too  long  delayed. 
They  are  quite  as  important  as  many  another  apparently 
more  emergent  question. 


Another  chance  for  union  effort  is  in  what  is  known 
as  the  native  Christian  Church,  of  which  there  are  a 
few  examples,  notably  the  one  in  Tientsin. 

In  the  letter  just  received  from  Bishop  Bashford  he 
speaks  of  the  decision  among  the  missionaries  on  the 
field  to  adopt  the  name,  the  Christian  Church  in  China, 
as  one  of  the  most  important  movements  of  the  last 
twelve  months. 


The  usefulness  of  foreigners  on  the  mission  field  is 
coming  to  be  more  and  more  educational,  advisory  and 
supervisory.  These  union  movements  fit  in  perfectly 
with  such  a  program. 


In  my  judgment  we  may  as  well  face  this  question  now 
and  make  our  arrangements  accordingly.  It  is  merely  a 
matter  of  bookkeeping  to  preserve  our  denominational 
statistics;  but  the  advantages  of  co-operative  manage¬ 
ment  on  the  field  cannot  be  overestimated. 


At  the  present  time  we  are  maintaining,  as  a  church, 
some  isolated  mission  stations  in  the  far  West  of  China. 


—  28  — 


It  takes  a  General  Superintendent  months  of  time  and 
no  end  of  inconvenience  to  visit  and  supervise  these 
stations.  During  his  absence  he  is  practically  unavailable 
for  the  balance  of  his  work. 

The  Methodist  Church  of  Canada  is  specializing  in  this 
particular  field.  If  the  union  effort  were  a  little  further 
developed,  it  would  not  seem  such  a  difficult  thing  to 
hand  over  these  isolated  stations  to  our  brethren  of  the 
Methodist  Church  of  Canada,  who  are  equally  energetic 
with  ourselves,  equally  evangelistic  and  equally  high- 
minded  in  their  work. 

Some  of  our  best  missionaries  in  China  believe  it  will 
be  a  decided  encouragement  to  our  workers  in  the  field 
and  will  indicate  the  genuineness  of  a  new  policy  of  con¬ 
centration,  if  we  arrange,  as  soon  as  possible,  for  these 
stations  to  be  surrendered  to  the  Methodist  Church  of 
Canada.  Some  of  the  missionaries  would  undoubtedly 
be  transferred  by  preference  to  the  other  Church.  The 
membership  could  be  readily  cared  for.  We  could  still 
use  in  other  fields  any  of  the  missionaries  who  wished  to 
remain  with  us ;  and  the  same  effort  and  the  same  monev 
would  certainly  in  a  very  short  time  more  than  repay  us 
in  membership  and  in  the  feeling  that  would  be  developed 
of  our  intention  to  cultivate  our  fields  intensively  rather 
than  extensively. 

The  development  of  the  work  of  the  W.  F.  M.  S.  along  ^  ^ 

with  and  compared  with,  that  of  the  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions  seems  little  short  of  a  miracle;  for  administra¬ 
tion  purposes  on  the  field  there  is  a  very  large  degree 
of  unity  of  purpose  and  harmony  of  action. 

Many  of  the  representatives  of  the  W.  F.  M.  S.  on  the 
field,  and  not  a  few  of  the  representatives  of  the  Board 
of  Foreign  Missions,  have  said  to  me  that  if  the  same 
degree  of  unity  of  purpose  could  be  brought  about  in 
the  United  States  between  the  two  missionary  boards 
of  our  church,  so  that  the  financial  methods,  the  plans 
of  work,  could  be  thoroughly  harmonized  and  brought 
closer  together,  the  results  arising  therefrom  would 
be  still  more  marvelous.  He  would  be  a  bold  man 


—  29  — 


Bngltsb 

Speaking 

mork 


£wo 

TUnfcm 

Cburcbes 


that  would  venture  to  suggest  what  was  best  to  be  done 
without  very  serious  conference  between  those  in  au¬ 
thority  on  both  sides.  But,  if  any  improvement  can  be 
made,"  it  certainly  would  be  helpful  to  the  bringing  in  of 
the  Kingdom. 

The  English  speaking  services  that  so  thickly  dot  the 
mission  field  are  a  magnificent  opportunity  for  union  ef¬ 
fort.  It  may  seem  to  some  of  you  of  no  great  importance 
and  not  a  prominent  part  of  the  work  of  the  Board  of 
Foreign  Missions  to  look  after  these  services ;  but  the  ap¬ 
pointment  of  a  committee  by  the  Foreign  Missions  Con¬ 
ference  of  North  America  a  long  time  ago,  with  Mr.  Rob¬ 
ert  E.  Speer  as  Chairman,  proves  that  others  have  differ¬ 
ently  estimated  this  work.  Even  where  the  only  peo¬ 
ple  to  be  reached  are  missionaries  and  their  families,  and 
the  limited  number  of  natives  or  others  who  speak  Eng¬ 
lish,  it  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  such  assistance 
be  given,  as  will  act  as  an  inspiration. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  the  largest  Protest¬ 
ant  body  in  the  United  States  and  the  largest  Protestant 
force  on  the  mission  field.  It,  therefore,  has  the  largest 
number  of  missionaries  at  work  and  probably  has  as 
many  adherents  who  travel,  as  any  other  church.  The 
missionaries  and  adherents  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  South,  may  properly  be  added  to  this  particular 
calculation.  Will  any  one  dispute  the  statement  that  we 
have  given,  as  a  Church,  very  little  consideration  to  the 
maintenance  of  public  worship  among  people  of  our  own 
kind  in  foreign  countries? 

It  is  true  that  in  India  and  in  other  places  we  have  had 
English  speaking  Churches  with  large  possibilities ;  but 
in  how  many  cases  we  have  sent  to  these  churches  mere 
boys  in  the  ministry,  or  men  in  their  first  year  or  two 
of  missionary  life,  merely  to  change  them  as  soon  as 
they  made  some  little  progress  in  the  acquisition  of  the 
foreign  language. 

The  Union  Church  at  Yokahama  where  Dr.  Good  was 
so  long  a  minister;  the  Union  Church  at  Kobe,  where  Dr. 
Gutelius  now  is,  are  both  examples  of  churches  whose 
number  might  be  multiplied,  if  a  great  denomination  like 
our  own  seriously  set  itself  to  fulfill  its  duty  to  those 
speaking  our  own  language,  who,  for  one  purpose  or 
another,  find  residence  in  foreign  cities. 


30  — 


Every  facility  was  afforded  me  to  see  and  to  learn 
everything  possible  in  the  limited  time  and  the  greatest 
brotherliness,  courtesy  and  hospitality  were  manifested. 
Many  visits  were  announced  beforehand;  but  in  a  major¬ 
ity  of  cases  no  opportunity  was  afforded  to  fix  things  up 
for  inspection. 

It  so  happens  that  on  this  entire  trip  I  did  not  see  a 
single  Conference  in  session ;  but  visited  and  saw  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  their  stations,  at  work,  with  their  regular 
daily  tasks. 

The  occasional  visit  of  the  General  Superintendent  un¬ 
doubtedly  has  advantages  in  many  ways;  but  he  has  no 
time  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of  means,  needs 
and  results,  if  he  holds  the  necessary  Conferences,  attends 
to  his  administrative  duties  and  fills  the  public  engage¬ 
ments  expected  of  his  position. 

A  far  more  satisfactory  way  to  secure  the  detailed  in¬ 
formation  needed  for  the  guidance  of  your  Board,  would 
be  the  appointment  of  a  suitable  small  commission,  mod¬ 
eled  after  the  Mott  Conferences  that  have  recently  been 
concluded  and  have  issued  their  remarkable  findings. 
These  Mott  reports  for  the  entire  field  of  missions,  will 
be  the  basis  of  federated  plans  and  policies  for  years  to 
come.  It  is  three-quarters  of  a  century  since  our  mission 
work  was  started ;  no  such  study  has  ever  been  made  by 
us  even  in  a  single  field.  The  work  of  a  competent  com¬ 
mission  looking  into  the  special  results,  plans,  policies, 
merits  and  demerits  of  our  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission 
work,  could  not  fail  to  greatly  forward  the  task  of  your 
Board. 

Respectfully  submitted, 

HANFORD  CRAWFORD. 

St.  Louis,  Mo.,  September  10th,  1913. 


/ibetbobist 

Commission 


—  31  — 


McAdoo  Printing  Co, 

ST.  LOUIS  MO. 


